Who is Ahrie Sonta, and What is His Alleged Involvement in Illegal Wiretaping?

JAKARTA, JakartaWeekly.com—Inspector General of Police (Irjen) Ahrie Sonta Nasution is one of three police generals named as suspects in an alleged illegal wiretapping case targeting President Prabowo Subianto, state officials, political figures, media organizations, community organization leaders, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and businesspeople. 

Ahrie’s name is relatively familiar within President Prabowo Subianto’s circle. In October 2024, he was selected to serve as a presidential aide representing the Indonesian National Police (Polri). Ahrie was initially expected to replace Major Teddy Indra Wijaya and was the only officer selected from a pool of seven Polri personnel.

However, reports later emerged that Ahrie had never actually served alongside Prabowo during his tenure as a presidential aide. The President reportedly chose to appoint several of his own personal aides to serve in the presidential aide team instead.

Not long afterward, in October 2025, Ahrie returned to an internal position within the police force. He was promoted to Principal Internal Security Investigator Level II at the Polri Professional and Security Division (Divpropam). He was also promoted to the rank of Brigadier General of Police (Brigjen Pol).

A year later, Ahrie received another promotion. National Police Chief General Suyudi Ario Seto appointed him as Head of the Polri Legal Division (Kadivkum) on October 2, 2026. Ahrie replaced Inspector General Agus Nugroho and attained the rank of Inspector General at the age of 45.

Looking further into Ahrie’s background, he has served in the police force for more than two decades. He graduated from the Indonesian Police Academy (Akpol) in 2002. 

Cited from many sources, throughout his police career, Ahrie served as a Unit Head of Subdirectorate II of the Narcotics Directorate at the Jakarta Metropolitan Police. In 2018, he was involved in uncovering more than 100 kilograms of narcotics within a two-month period. 

Ahrie also took part in dismantling a Taiwanese drug syndicate in Tanjung Berakit, Bintan Island, Riau Islands, where authorities seized up to 1.6 tons of narcotics.

In 2019, Ahrie served as Head of the Monitoring Team at the Bureau of Guidance and Operations. He was also reportedly involved in the Special Task Force for Operation Nemangkawi in Papua and security operations in Central Sulawesi.

In July 2020, Ahrie was assigned to the Cybercrime Directorate of the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim Polri). He was among the officers involved in the arrest of fugitive Djoko Tjandra in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Djoko was wanted in connection with the Bank Bali receivables transfer case.

Ahrie was subsequently inaugurated as Chief of the Tanjung Priok Port Police on August 18, 2020. During his tenure as police chief, Ahrie was seen accompanying Listyo Sigit during his fit-and-proper test for the position of National Police Chief before Commission III of the House of Representatives (DPR). He was reportedly the only police chief invited by Listyo Sigit to attend the session.

A month later, Ahrie was appointed as the National Police Chief’s Personal Secretary. He was also promoted from the rank of Adjunct Senior Commissioner (AKBP) to Senior Commissioner of Police (Kombes Pol).

Ahrie Sonta’s Alleged Involvement in Illegal Wiretapping

National Police Criminal Investigation Agency Chief Commissioner General Asep Safrudin stated that Ahrie Sonta Nasution was one of the three key figures allegedly involved in the illegal wiretapping case.

“Based on the results of the investigation using the Scientific Crime Investigation method and the case management process, investigators have named three suspects, identified by the initials LSP, ASN, and EH. Meanwhile, one other individual, identified as SU, is still being questioned as a witness,” said National Police Criminal Investigation Agency Chief Commissioner General Asep Safrudin.

The alleged wiretapping activities reportedly began in 2025. In this case, the suspects, namely Listyo Sigit Prabowo, Ahrie, and Eko Hadi Santoso, allegedly instructed officers to enter several telephone numbers into the Lawful Interception Management System (LIMS), a system used to conduct wiretapping for law enforcement purposes.

However, the telephone numbers were allegedly entered into the system without undergoing the required verification process and without the necessary investigation documents.

Ahrie was also allegedly involved in the destruction of electronic evidence. The three police generals, including Ahrie, reportedly ordered officers to delete wiretapping files from LIMS computers in October 2026. The deletion was allegedly intended to erase traces of the wiretapping activities.

Inspector General Ahrie Sonta, along with General Listyo Sigit Prabowo and Inspector General Eko Hadi Santoso, has now been named a suspect and detained at the Mobile Brigade Corps (Brimob) detention facility.